I’ll Live My Second Life! Chapter 55

Dear Ve**ullis,

Are you just here to annoy me? I don’t really care if you don’t like the story, but can you not complain on my turf? It leaves a completely bad after-taste after working for hours to get this translated.

To sum up, your commenting here is a privilege, not a right, and that privilege is only extended to people who don’t p.i.s.s me off. I translate because I want comments about people enjoying the story. Why else am I doing all this? Certainly not money.

Also don’t talk to Chronos that way. You don’t have the capital to be warning her of anything.

Love,
the translator

The next day, the members of the Northern Dormitory were greeted with an odd sight.

Recently, it had become a regular sight to see Doug chasing Heath around. But for some reason, it was Doug avoiding Heath today.

One thing was on Doug’s mind.

(Does everyone know…? That she’s…)

For a moment, the image almost surfaced in his mind, but Doug panicked and shook his head to clear it.
He couldn’t. It was forbidden to imagine it.

In the blink of an eye, Doug’s face flushed red again.

(W-W-Why is there a girl here…?)

How could he have imagined that Heath was a girl…?
But he was sure he hadn’t made a mistake. Because that body was…
Once again, Doug almost thought back to the sight from yesterday. And once more, he shook his head in a great panic. Doug’s heart had been pounding like mad for a while now.

Actually, now that he knew she was a girl, it suddenly became incredibly obvious from her looks alone.
First there was her dainty body that was completely different to a man’s. Then there was her height, and even her face was that of a girl’s. She didn’t have many curves though…
Since he had a.s.sumed that there wouldn’t be any girls here, he had mistakenly a.s.sumed that she was just a small boy.

There was no rule that forbade women from being knights.
Or rather, no girl had ever tried becoming one, so n.o.body had even thought about it enough to form rules.

(What am I supposed to do…)

Doug’s head was in chaos now.
Did everyone know that Heath was a girl? Or did they live with her without knowing a thing? Since he didn’t really know anyone here, Doug had no clue.

Normally you would think that she was hiding it.
How could there be any girls in the Knight Order?
But she didn’t seem to be hiding it at all.

Unable to talk to anybody about this, Doug decided to simply avoid Heath.
And just as Doug was pa.s.sing by a deserted break area, a voice called out to him from behind.

“Doug-kun, it’s time to have a chat. With me, that is.”

When Doug turned with a start, he found Heath there.
She was leaning lazily on the couch and munching on cookies bought from town. Even though she looked like the very definition of relaxed, her eyes were locked onto Doug with a glint.

Fii had been waiting here the whole time for him.
She had already heard this morning that Doug had been wandering about in a daze. In that case, it made sense that he would wander to a deserted place like this.
That was the plan.

It was absolutely necessary that it was only the two of them.
It was incredibly bad news for Fii that somebody knew she was a girl. However, she kept it off her face so that he would never know.
Doug was the one in the wrong here. Fii was the one doing the blaming. It was essential that she create that kind of atmosphere.

“Sit down,” she said as she offered him a chair. All as her eyes told him that she wouldn’t take no for an answer.

Under her glare, Doug could only obediently sit opposite her.

“Ah… Um…”

“Say. Did you peek on me because you thought I was a man? Or did you peek on me because you knew I was a woman?”

Before Doug could say anything, Fii cut him off and replied with a pre-emptive strike.
She was the one who was in charge here.

“T-, That’s not-… I never-…!”

“Well, I don’t care either way. It doesn’t change the fact that you peeked.”

Fii didn’t care what he said. By denying him the opportunity to express himself, Fii would take the reins of the conversation. And while she was at it, she would gouge at his weaknesses.
That was her aim, and apparently it had worked.

“N-N-N-Never…! I wouldn’t…”

Doug looked flushed and panic-stricken, and near the end, his voice had grown hoa.r.s.e. Things seemed to be going pretty well. Perhaps even more effectively than she had imagined.

In their previous exchanges, Fii had realised that Doug was on the simplistic side of people.
Although he was good with the sword, he wasn’t good with talking or communication.
If anything unexpected happened, he would immediately fall into a fl.u.s.ter, and the time in the bathroom he had turned bright red and stumbled about like a headless chicken. Because he often wore a serious expression, at first he seemed like the cool type, but in fact it was the opposite; whether he was being serious or whether he wasn’t, his emotions would always be laid bare on his face.

Being frank about your emotions meant that you would be easily influenced by the mood. When your emotions were easily affected, it was impossible to influence the mood with your own emotions.

Fii was certain that this could work.

“You know, we generally call people like those “perverts”. A guy who peeks on a girl taking a bath is a pervert, and a guy who peeks on guys taking a bath is another kind of pervert. If this ever got out, you’d never be able to stay in the Order, would you?”

The whole conversation was going to proceed on the basis that Doug was in the wrong.

The truth was that Fii would be overwhelmingly worse off if this ever got out.

But Doug was already convinced. First Fii’s att.i.tude was too bold. Secondly, Fii had been using the atmosphere to continuously convince him that he was the one in real danger here…

Doug couldn’t stop the sweat from running down his skin.

“If it went public that you were a voyeur, it’d probably damage the 1st Division’s reputation, huh. And if that happened, it’d be entirely your fault. You’d be disqualified as a knight, you know? So what are you going to do?”

“What am I going to do…? W-What am I supposed I do?”

Naturally this was a question with no answer.
The whole problem hinged on whether Fii went public or not, so to begin with, it was impossible for Doug to come up with any sort of plan.
But well, even that was one of Fii’s tricks.
Normally it would be Doug choosing whether or not to go public and Fii trying to prevent it. But because of Fii’s incredibly unashamed att.i.tude and the constant attacks on his weaknesses, their situations had completely reversed.

By now, Doug was feeling pure panic.

“Peeking”

“Pervert”

“Disgrace”

“Disqualified as a knight…”

Each word pressured him psychologically, and having believed that Fii was the one in charge here, he reflexively gave her a begging look.
The moment she saw those eyes, Fii was a.s.sured of her victory.

“Don’t worry. Just this once, I’ll cut you some slack.”

“R-, Really…!?”

Even though she should have been the one in trouble, Fii completely acted like she was the one doing him the favour. As for Doug, who seemed overjoyed that she had “saved” him, Fii looked at him and nodded in affirmation.

“In exchange, I expect absolute obedience, you know?”

“Eh…?”

It was almost as though Doug couldn’t understand Fii’s words.

“Absolute obedience,” she repeated, slowly and carefully.

“Eh-, eh…? Why…?”

It wasn’t that he didn’t understand the words, but rather that he couldn’t believe what was happening to him.

“You still don’t get it? Doug, whether or not you can continue living here as an apprentice knight depends entirely on my mood, you know? If I ever felt like it―――”

The cookie she had been eating rested on the palm before his eyes.

“―――Your life here…?”

And as though hinting at Doug’s future, Fii crushed the cookie with a sickly crunch.

“That’s why if I tell you to do something… you’d better not disobey me. Okay?”

With that, the boy who was known as having an angel’s smile―――actually a girl though―――smiled at Doug with the face of a devil.

Given that he lacked the negotiation skills to deal with Fii to begin with, now that he had been driven into the wall psychologically, all Doug could do was nod.

“Yes…”

Tl Note: Incidentally, he becomes a very meek and obedient dog. You can say what you want about him, but all he just wanted was to challenge a guy to a duel.